Dentophobia

(Pic: thisisdentistry.co.uk)

Anyone know the six most frightening words in the world?? The Dentist will see you now

Why do we fear a dentist?

• Our mouth is a vulnerable part of our body and several basic needs are threatened via the mouth, including breathing and eating
• people who have an excessive need to maintain control feel very helpless when they are a dental patient
• fear of syringes, drilling and scary pictures of cavities.

However, my daughter is the first person I know who trusts the dentist more than me.  This is because of her personal experience of plucking a tooth at home.   One day  she approached me showing a tooth that was as loose and shaky as a baby’s rattle.  I tried my best to convince her that I could remove the tooth for her with minimum discomfort.  But she just would not agree.

Holding a tissue secretly..i approached her..asked her to open her mouth.. and when I had practiced the move in my mind… I shot my hand forth and pulled out the tooth in a fraction of a second.  She could not believe when I showed her the tooth..I bought her some icecream to console her.  After that she kept  the tooth safely under the pillow for the tooth fairy.  After this incident my daughter trusted only a dentist.

On my first visit to the dentist – I sat down on the chair.  He reclined it down .  It felt great.

I did not know what a filling was?

What filling would you like – the dentist asked?  Chocolate please I said.  I did not realize that I had a cavity in my wisdom tooth and it had to be filled .

I thought a plaque is an award one gets for making a speech…until  the dentist told me that I had got plaque.

Dentists are so used to injecting local anaesthetics that they seem to get a thrill out of it. Once I visited the dentist because of periodontal problem.   The dentist took out this syringe and he gave a big smile.  I don’t know what was so funny about a syringe.  He then proceeded to inject me all around my mouth.

After some time my whole face was numb… I touched my jaw and it felt strange.  I could not tell if my tongue was still there in my mouth.  He asked me to rinse my mouth.  But when I poured the water in, it just flowed out the same way..as I could not open or close my mouth.  I realized I could not speak.

The dentist then proceeded to clean and polish.  In between he took a drill and drilled.  I thought – Is this a dentist or a civil engineer?  Am I at the right place?

The tools that the dentist uses, the awkward position of lying down makes one feel vulnerable,  and the dentist peering over his mask at you are some of the things that people fear visiting a dentist (Dentophobia)

I visit the dentist atleast once a year  to clean and polish. After the cleaning and polishing, my teeth were pearly white.. they had such a sparkle that I did not need to switch on the lights.

The dentist was a person I feared but now I know that taking care of our teeth is as important as any other part of our body and the dentist is the best person for this job!

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Tuesday Inspiration – Maya

10 Indian Women in Science!

It is heartening to know that there is an increasing number of women receiving an education in the sciences in India. Working in science has not been easy for women, with its long hours, societal biases, and the need to get married and have children in between. Let’s look at some of these women, often forgotten heroes, who have made great contributions to science and paved the way for others.

Janaki Ammal
At a time when women were regarded as ornaments of society and were confined to the four walls of their houses, Janaki Ammal certainly broke the stereotype when she pursued a career in scientific research. She was a botanist who studied cytogenetics and phytogeography. She lived in England for a few years, conducting chromosome studies on a wide range of garden plants, but soon returned to India and became the Director General of the Botanical Survey of India. She was awarded the Padma Shri in 1957.

Anandibai Joshee
Anandibai Joshee was one of the first Indian women doctors qualified to practice western medicine).
Dr. Joshee’s short life was full of hardships; her family used to be rich landlords in Kalyan, Mahasrashtra, but they lost all their riches, and she was married at age 9 to a widower 20 years her senior. She gave birth at age 14 to a son who died shortly afterwards, and she herself suffered from poor health with an undiagnosed condition that often left her exhausted with shortness of breath and constant headaches. The death of her newborn son due to inadequate medical care is what inspired her to become a physician. She was also encouraged by her husband to study medicine abroad. Dr. Joshee, MD was in the class of 1886 at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania (which was the first women’s medical program in the world). On her return to India, she was appointed as the physician-in-charge of the female ward of the local Albert Edward Hospital in the princely state of Kolhapur.

Kalpana Chawla
was the first Indian American astronaut and first Indian woman in space. She first flew on Space Shuttlee Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator. In 2003, Chawla was one of the seven crew members killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. She completed her earlier schooling at Tagore Baal Niketan Senior Secondary School, Karnal and completed her Bachelor of Engineering degree in Aeronautical Engineering at Punjab Engineering College at Chandigarh in 1982. She moved to the United States in 1982 where she obtained a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1984. Determined to become an astronaut even in the face of the Challenger disaster, Chawla went on to earn a second Masters in 1986 and a Ph.D in aerospace engineering in 1988 from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Rajeshwari Chatterjee
Rajeshwari Chatterjee was the first woman engineer from Karnataka. In 1946, she was given a scholarship by the (then) Govt of Delhi to study abroad, and studied at th University of Michigan where she obtained her Master’s degree from the Department of Electrical Engineering. After obtaining a Ph.D degree, she returned to India and joined the Department of Electrical Communication Engineering at IISc as a faculty member where she along with her husband set up a microwave research laboratory where they did pioneering work on Microwave Engineering.

Dr. Aditi Pant
Dr. Aditi Pant is a well known oceanographer who was the first Indian woman to have visited the icy terrain of Antarctica in 1983. She was a part of the third Indian expenditure to Antarctica and received the Antarctica award along with three of her colleagues for their contributions to the project. She worked in the National Institute of Oceanography and the National Chemical Laboratory.

Charusita Chakravarty
Charusita Chakravarty has been a professor of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi since 1999. Born in the USA, she relinquished her U.S. citizenship and now works in India. She has won several awards for her work, most notably, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize. She is an Associate Member of the Centre for Computational Material Science, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore.

Asima Chatterjee
Asima Chatterjee was an Indian chemist noted for her work in the fields of organic chemistry and phytochemistry (chemicals derived from plants). Her most notable work includes research on vinca alkaloids (derived from the periwinkle that is known for its anti-cancer properties), and the development of anti-epileptic and anti-malarial drugs. She also authored a considerable volume of work on medicinal plants of the Indian subcontinent.

Dr Indira Hinduja
Dr. Indira Hinduja M.D., Ph.D. is an Indian gynaecologist, obstetrician and infertility specialist based in Mumbai. She pioneered the Gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) technique resulting in the birth of India’s first GIFT baby on 4 January 1988. Previously she delivered India’s s first test tube baby at KEM Hospital on August 6, 1986.  She is also credited for developing an oocyte donation technique for menopausal and premature ovarian failure patients, giving the country’s first baby out of this technique on 24 January 1991

Dr. Suman Sahai
Sahai obtained a Ph.D from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in 1975. She then successively worked at the University of Alberta, University of Chicago,  and the University of Heidelberg,  where she obtained her habilitation in human genetics.  According to the Web of Science, , Sahai has published over 40 articles, mostly on policy issues relating to genetically modified organisms, which have been cited over 150 times, giving her an h-index of 7. She is director of the NGO,  Gene Campaign

Dr Sunetra Gupta
is a  Professor of Theoretical Epidemiology at the University of Oxford with an interest in infectious disease agents that are responsible for malaria, HIV, influenza and bacterial meningitis.. Gupta is currently Professor of Theoretical Epidemiology in the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford. She sits on the European Advisory Board of Princeton University Press. She has been awarded the Scientific Medal by the Zoological Society of London and the Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award for her scientific research. Her novels have been awarded the Sahitya Academy Award, the Southern Arts Literature Prize, shortlisted for the Crossword Award, and longlisted for the Orange Prize. Gupta’s portrait was on display during the prestigious Royal Society’s Summer Science Exhibition along with leading female scientist such as Madame Curie in July 2013

(source: Wikipedia)

Isn’t Your Face Red?

When was the last time you were embarrassed? How do you react to embarrassment?
Photographers, artists, poets: show us RED.

I dread toilets..you may ask why? One of my most embarassing moments was at a toilet.
I entered the ladies  toilet.

I dont know why but the symbol for mens and ladies were very similar at this toilet.  Probably it was
drawn by a unisexual artist. And once inside I could not find the familiar urinals and I knew I had made a mistake.  And before I could react, I saw a young lady charge at me from the opposite side.

My face, ears everything turned red.  Beads of sweat started trickling from my forehead.  I had  a lot of explanation to do.  It was a practical exam for me in negotiation skills. I will not forget that day.. it was truly embarassing!

After that day, I always double check signs before I  enter.

Other interesting posts in this category:
1) https://yzhengblog.wordpress.com/2015/08/03/lets-go-somewhere/
2) https://flowersandbreezes.wordpress.com/2015/08/03/embarrassment/
3) https://incidentsofadysfunctionalspraffer.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/daily-prompt-isnt-your-face-red/
4) https://jigokucho.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/youre-an-embarrassment/
5) https://jaysnaps.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/red/
6) https://viewsplash.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/daily-prompt-lets-red-face-it/
7) https://raspberrydaydreams.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/embarrassing-moments-between-us/
8) http://adityaviyer.com/2014/02/05/isnt-your-face-red/
9) http://karengadient.com/2014/02/05/daily-prompt-red-outside-the-vein/
10) http://purplerosemary.com/2014/02/05/red-sunflower/

Lucky star!

Today is your lucky day. You get three wishes, granted to you
byThe Daily Post. What are your three wishes and why?

Photographers, artists, poets: show us WISHES.

My 3 wishes would be:

1. World Peace: I wish for a world which is free from fear and lives in peace. A world not divided by narrow mindedness, caste, creed and colour.
2. Alleviation of Poverty: Today if there is more kindness around, it is possible for the rich nations and top net-worth individuals to help to alleviate some poverty in those nations like Sudan, Ethiopia etc where children are malnourished and live in abject poverty. Ofcourse, the ideal situation would be where everyone would contribute based on their capacity.

3. Education for all: My wish would be for a world where education can reach the nooks and corners of every village.  Where NGOs, voluntary organisations and private companies work supported by governments to make sure that every child has access to basic education.

Other interesting posts in this category:
1) http://007pandas.com/2015/08/02/httpsdailypost-wordpress-comdp_promptlucky-star/
2) http://teepee12.com/2015/08/02/if-wishes-were-horses/
3) https://agent909.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/daily-prompt-lucky-stars/
4) https://soundsoftime.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/star-light-star-bright/
5) https://mauldinfamily1.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/daily-prompt-lucky-star/
6) https://momshieb.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/three-wishes/
7)  https://mehajalan.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/daily-prompt-lucky-starfeeling-lucky-my-three-wishes/